Bethlehem shuts off the lights

What do you make of this cost-cutting measure, and should other schools consider such a move?

BETHLEHEM – In order to keep sports programs from going dark, Bethlehem decided to shut off the lights.

Nobody particularly likes the idea of the Bethlehem football team (and others at the school) playing home games in the daytime as opposed to at night, as the Eagles did this dismal Friday afternoon against Ballston Spa.

Not the players.

“I don’t like it. I hate it,’’ senior running Casiem Maxwell said earlier this week. “High school football is all about Friday night lights.’’

Not the fans/parents.

“It’s ridiculous,’’ Dave Martin of Delmar, who has kids playing football and girls soccer, said Friday afternoon. “I don’t think I’ve talked to anybody who is OK with this.’’

Not even the school officials who implemented the policy that also applies to other teams such as soccer, field hockey and lacrosse.

“We are not going to make a lot of people happy with this,’’ Superintendent Michael D. Tebbano said.

The thing is, he and others said, is alternatives were worse — a rash of cuts that could have included wiping out modified sports for seventh and eighth graders.

“If we have to give up a few night games to save middle school sports programs,’’ athletic director John DeMeo said, “that’s what you got to do.’’

All told, $60,000 was cut from the sports budget, the superintendent said, part of more than $2 million slashed from the original budget proposal last winter. School officials said $10,000 in savings were realized by going to day games, a figure that includes the cost of running the lights and a lesser need for security.

The plan to cut out nighttime games came about during talks at the height of the economic meltdown. Officials said they looked at three different tiers of cuts, implementing the first two levels but holding off on the most severe.

“We were able to save all the athletic activities,’’ Tebbano said. School officials said they hope the measure is a one-year cost-saving measure.

There are some schools, including Troy, Watervliet and Cohoes, which at home play all day games. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association did not have any data on whether other schools have switched to day games to save money. Officials here have heard of none.

In addition to Friday’s game, Bethlehem football will play two Saturday afternoon home games in October. The exception to the nighttime ban for home games is the Thursday game against Columbia, which will be played at night because of the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

Certainly, there’s a different atmosphere (and a bigger fan base) when games are played at night. In soccer, for example, only two night games were played, but one was senior night.

“It’s just a different feel,’’ boys soccer coach Phil Ridgway said. He added a group of parents and the local soccer club plan to pitch the school board with the idea of raising funds to finance one night game. “We’re not giving up.’’

School officials were not optimistic those efforts would be successful.

First-year football head coach Rick Leach shrugged at the schedule change. “Personally, to me it’s not a big deal,’’ he said. But, he added, “the kids are disappointed.’’

When news of this move surfaced in the spring, Leach told his team to put it all in perspective.

“If this is the worse thing that happens to us,’’ he said, “we’re pretty fortunate.’’

At the 4:30 p.m. kickoff Friday, there were 48 people on Bethlehem’s side of the field. Certainly weather played some factor in the low turnout, although DeMeo conceded earlier this week that, “you are going to lose a little bit of a fan base with this.’’

By 4:47 pm. Friday, there was only 4:47 left in the first quarter. The Scotties had already jumped to a 14-0 lead, en route to a 61-13 manhandling of the Eagles. The game ended at 6:44 p.m. under ominously darkening gray skies.

The lights remained off.

NOTE: Disclosures: I am a resident of the school district, but do not have kids playing scholastic sports.